Settlement reached in Thanksgiving Day wreck lawsuit

Brooke Cru, Beaumont Enterprise

By Brooke Crum

Published 10:18 pm, Monday, December 23, 2013

An emergency worker walks past a pile of cars from Thursday's accident on Interstate 10. Heavy fog and speeders are said to be the causes of the wreck that involved more than 100 cars. Several tractor trailers, a thanker truck and bus were also involved in the pile up.
Photo taken Thursday, November 22, 2012
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The family of the Pearland couple who died in the 2012 Thanksgiving Day pileup on Interstate 10 reached an agreement Monday with the C.R. England trucking company before the jury could deliberate the case.

Attorneys for the survivors of Vincent and Debra Leggio, killed Nov. 22, 2012, would not disclose the details of the settlement Monday afternoon, saying the agreement forbid it.

Joseph D. Jamail, a Houston attorney representing the Leggio family, said the family was happy with the settlement.

After the trial ended, the Leggio family - some with eyes bright with tears - hugged Jamail in the 172nd District Court and profusely thanked the attorney for his service.

The Leggio family sought damages from truck driver Richardo Fernando Kerr, whose 18-wheeler ran over the Leggio couple's car, and C.R. England Inc., which owned the truck and employed Kerr.

Kerr was driving the truck in fog on Thanksgiving Day 2012 when it crashed into the more than 100 cars already piling up on Interstate 10. The truck struck the Leggios' vehicle from behind near Hamshire Road.

As Judge Donald Floyd released the jury from its duty Monday afternoon, Jamail and the Leggio family's Beaumont-based attorneys Walter Umphrey and Chip Ferguson thanked the jurors for being "the most attentive jury" they had encountered.

That attentiveness was the reason both sides agreed to settle the case behind closed doors, Jamail said to the jury.

For six days, attorneys for each side debated the density of the fog that made visibility nearly impossible that morning, the speed and ability with which Kerr drove his 18-wheeler and the party ultimately responsible for the collision.

Attorneys for CRE called for a mistrial four times before the trial concluded Monday afternoon.